I mean they are making MILLIONS to do what they love, Baseball. I think its ridiculous how players like A-Rod makes over $20 million but yet hits a ground ball and practically walks to first base. If they are getting paid millions they can a least make an effort t first.

Also how can some players complain about their salary when they are doing so well off compared to most people who also love baseball

The economics of the game set the pay scale. As long as fans give enough financial support the owners will rake in enough cash and subsequently have the ability to pass it on to the players. Your support of the game is your endorsement of players salaries. Players only seem to earn or not earn their money in comparison to other players and their money. So I guess my answer is yes, they deserve every penny they get.

Well first of all, it is simple supply and demand. If someone is willing to pay a certain price for a service, then it is worth it because the demand is obviously there.

Secondly, it's not all fun and games. They barely have any days off for the 6 month stretch of the season. They have to travel all over the country, and they don't get to spend much time with their families.

Thirdly, A-Rod is not someone that doesn't hustle. Most everyone doesn't run at top speed when they're likely to be out 98% of the time on a pop up to the infield or a ground ball. I don't think that is a knock on anyone.

Fourthly, it is everyone's right in a capitalistic society to fight to get as much money as they can from their employer. I'm not sure how old you are, but if you're working full time you are making a lot more money than plenty of people. That is no reason for you not to try to get a raise though.

Fifthly, if we don't give the players this money who do you want to pocket the $6 billion? The owners? They have more money than any of the players.

It bugs me when peopple complain about players half assing it because "they're getting paid all that money". That's very easy to say, but if you had millions of dollars sitting in your bank account, and you know there's more to come because of the sole fact that you can hit a baseball really well, I guarantee you would jog to first on routine flys or obvious groundouts once in a while, especially in the middle of the season during a long road trip.

If you say you'd bust your tail after every ball you hit, then you're lying to yourself. If anything, pro athletes are more likely to go full bore more often than us regular schmucks. Their bodies and minds are much more conditioned to do so.

And as far as their salaries go, I also agree they deserve every penny they get. That's the beauty of capitalism. Of course, that's not to say I'm not insanely jealous...

The bad part about the business of baseball is that a lot of corporations buy up tickets in bulk and thus driving up the prices of pretty much everything. Also, most team owners won't operate at a loss to build a winning team. To me, this almost seems like a conflict of interest since owners can easily sacrifice winning in order to fatten up their purse.

As far as whether players deserve their salaries, I'd say it's 50/50. Guaranteed contracts pretty much assures that a lot of them won't live up to their contract.

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." ~George Carlin

Inukchuk wrote:It bugs me when peopple complain about players half assing it because "they're getting paid all that money". That's very easy to say, but if you had millions of dollars sitting in your bank account, and you know there's more to come because of the sole fact that you can hit a baseball really well, I guarantee you would jog to first on routine flys or obvious groundouts once in a while, especially in the middle of the season during a long road trip.

If you say you'd bust your tail after every ball you hit, then you're lying to yourself. If anything, pro athletes are more likely to go full bore more often than us regular schmucks. Their bodies and minds are much more conditioned to do so.

Why does it bug you when people complain about the players who take plays off? These guys make millions of dollars entirely because of those people - the paying fans have every right to demand that we get our money's worth and that they work their ass off for their money. If they don't, we have no recourse whatsoever except to complain about it by booing or calling talk radio or writing on message boards or whatever to try to get on their case and force them to change their behavior. Obviously, the other solution is to stop being a fan and paying that money, but that aside our only other option is to complain.

All that said, I think players completely deserve their salary, based on the fact that its business/economics/capitalism and the players are the one's bringing in the money. Obviously, in the grand scheme of things athletes don't "deserve" more money than doctors or teachers or any other profession that does a lot to help the general public, but the only way to fix that is to institute some degree of socialism. Whenever I have this conversation with people who think players should be forced to make less, I simply ask: "If you invented the next Rubik's Cube or other novelty item that was worth millions of dollars, should you not get to keep that money?" That usually puts things in perspective, as its pretty much the same exact thing.

"The government cannot give to anyone anything that it does not first take from someone else"

Capitalism is a system that helps create winners and losers. Salaries are not linked to social worth/utility for anyone. Is it fair that a mediocre baseball player makes more than a doctor? Probably not. But on the other hand it's not really meant to be fair. As soon as you get over the notion that it ought to be, you will be much more at ease with things.

You've got a diamond, You've got nine men You've got a hat and a bat, And that's not all..

I think of it this way. If the owners didnt pay out such huge salaries, theyd have that much more in their pockets. I'd rather see it go in the players pockets than the owners. And a lot of that has to do with the union, which to my understanding, is perhaps the strongest and most powerful union there is. None of that is a bad thing.